Tools

Acts of Witness: Poetic Portraits of a Revolution

Poetic Portraits of a Revolution was already an intense multimedia performance when we caught the beta version last September during UNC's Process Series. At the behest of documentary producers at The Empowerment Project, Sacrificial Poets Will McInerney and Kane Smego, videographer Sameer Abdel-Khalek and interpreter Mohammad Moussa had gone to Egypt and Tunisia for eight weeks as the Arab Spring unfolded. They returned with footage from Tahrir Square and other places, probing interviews and striking individual insights into what a revolution looks like up close.

According to Process Series Director Joseph Megel, the group has been at work on the piece since September. "Poetic Portraits now does a much better job of giving us a sense of their journey," Megel says. "The people who spoke to them now actively speak to us; the work moves forward in an emotional and personal way."

Opening-weekend performances of Poetic Portraits of a Revolution are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with Blood Knot following on Sunday and Monday at 7:30 p.m. The plays continue in rotating repertory through March 20. —Byron Woods